The Virgin of the Sun eBook

“Get you gone, you false rogue! Get out
of this house, aye, and out of England. If I
meet you again, by God’s Blood I swear that King’s
favourite or no King’s favourite, I’ll
throat you like a hog!”

To which Deleroy mocked in answer:

“Good! I’ll go, my gentle cousin,
which it suits me well to do who have certain business
of the King’s awaiting me in France. Aye,
I’ll go and leave you to settle with this worthy
trader who may hold that you have duped him.
Do it as you will, except in one fashion, of which
you know. Now a word with my cousin Blanche and
another at the Palace and I ride for Dover. Farewell,
Cousin Aleys. Farewell, worthy merchant for whose
loss I should grieve, did I not know that soon you
will recoup yourself out of gentle pockets. Mourn
not over me over much, either of you, since doubtless
ere so very long I shall return.”

Now my blood flamed up and I answered:

“I pray you do not hurry, my lord, lest you
should find me waiting for you with a shield and a
sword in place of a warrant and a pen.”

He heard and called out, “Fore God, this chapman
thinks himself a knight!”

Then with a mocking laugh he went.

CHAPTER VI

MARRIAGE—­AND AFTER

Sir Robert and I stood facing each other speechless
with rage, both of us. At length he said in a
hoarse voice:

“Your pardon, Master Hastings, for the affronts
that this bastard lordling has put upon you, an honest
man. I tell you that he is a loose-living knave,
as you would agree if you knew all his story, a cockatrice
that for my sins I have nurtured in my bosom.
’Tis he that has wasted all my substance; ’tis
he that has made free of my name, so that I fear me
you are defrauded. ’Tis he that uses my
house as though it were his own, bringing into it
vile women of the Court, and men that are viler still,
however high their names and gaudy their attire,”
and he choked with his wrath and stopped.

“Why do you suffer these things, sir?”
I asked.

“Forsooth because I must,” he answered
sullenly, “for he has me and mine by the throat.
This Deleroy is very powerful, Master Hastings.
At a word from him whispered in the King’s ear,
I, or you, or any man might find ourselves in the
Tower accused of treason, whence we should appear no
more.”

Then, as though he wished to get away from the subject
of Deleroy and his hold upon him, he went on:

“I fear me that your money, or much of it, is
in danger for Deleroy’s bond is worthless, and
since the land is already pledged without my knowledge,
I have nowhere to turn for gold. I tell you that
I am an honest man if one who has fallen into ill
company, and this wickedness cuts me deep, for I know
not how you will be repaid.”

Now a thought came to me, and as was my bold fashion
in all business, I acted on it instantly.